BROOKLYN – Mikhail Prokhorov once vowed to take over New York as owner of the Brooklyn Nets and turn Knicks fans into Nets fans. But on Thursday night in front of a national TV audience, it was the Knicks who took over Brooklyn and Barclays Center.
It was so bad, Brooklyn’s introductory video malfunctioned before loud boos for Kevin Garnett and Jason Kidd filled the arena during the starting lineup introductions.
Chants of “Let’s go Knicks” began as New York pulled away from Brooklyn en route to a 113-83 win.
By this point, James Dolan’s grin probably spanned the entire Brooklyn Bridge.
During quarter intermissions, Ally Love – Barclays Center’s arena host – routinely encouraged Nets fans to get loud by saying, “Where’s Brooklyn?”
Sadly, Nets fans have asked themselves the same question about Brooklyn’s roster all season long.
Alan Anderson, Mason Plumlee, Tornike Shengelia, Tyshawn Taylor and Mirza Teletovic have all played together at various times this season.
With all due respect, those aren’t the cornerstone players Brooklyn diagrammed a championship blueprint around at the start of the season. Injuries have decimated a team that was considered the deepest in the league on paper.
Brooklyn’s starting lineup accumulated 35 All-Star selections while the bench boasted the only unit with four double-digit scorers and one double-digit rebounder from last season.
However, Brooklyn’s training staff has been among the busiest in the league.
Starters and All-Stars Brook Lopez, Paul Pierce and Deron Williams and top reserves Andrei Kirilenko and Jason Terry have combined to miss 44 games this season.
In fact, only Anderson, Andray Blatche, Shaun Livingston and Joe Johnson have appeared in all 19 games for Brooklyn.
Many believe there is a direct correlation between the injuries and slow start, but it’s not the only reason for Brooklyn’s struggles to this point.
Brooklyn’s defensive deficiencies led coach Jason Kidd to reassign assistant coach and de facto defensive coordinator Lawrence Frank to doing daily reports while removing his seat on the bench during games.
It is an ugly, embarrassing situation for Kidd, who has been less than forthcoming about what led to the demotion of the man who used to coach him when the team was ballin’ in East Rutherford.
Those times in the swamp seem like the good old days compared to what is happening now.
Brooklyn has allowed the league’s worst 3-point shooting percentage to opponents (.403). The Knicks made that number worse, going 16-for-27 from downtown.
“We’re trying different schemes,” said veteran forward Kevin Garnett. “We’re trying to defend the paint and keep the paint, but teams have been shooting the ball very well. Every team that shoots the three, they’ve had success shooting the three against us. We haven’t done a very good job of that.”
The lack of perimeter defense has contributed mightily to the 102.8 points per game the Nets allow opponents, ranking 28th in the league.
Brooklyn’s breakdowns defensively have been notoriously bad in the third quarter, which has been the Achilles’ heel all season long.
Brooklyn has been outscored by 112 points in the third quarter, an average of 5.89 per game. On Thursday, the Knicks outscored the Nets by 18 points in the third, turning the rivalry into a rout.
“In the third quarter, we couldn’t get the ball in the basket and the Knicks kept going and they did,” said Kidd.
In addition to the defensive struggles, the offense has routinely become stagnant, with one pass before an isolation.
“Offensively, we don’t really have an identity,” said Johnson. “We throw it down to Brook pretty much when there’s nothing and we put him in a lot of tough positions. We just basically sit and watch. We make his job a lot harder than what it should be. Without us doing a lot of movement and cutting, we’re making everybody’s job harder.”
Ball movement has been an area of concern for the Nets without Williams to effectively run pick-and-roll plays with Garnett and Lopez. Williams’ penetrating ability has also been missed because it opens the floor for shooters to find open spots on defensive rotations.